A Muslim couple is protesting the controversial decision of a French appeals court on Monday that reinstates their marriage, which was annulled in April because the wife was not a virgin.

The unnamed couple, who married in 2006, had mutually agreed to the annulment of their marriage after the husband learned she was no longer a virgin as she had claimed and she admitted having pre-marital sex.

However, the decision of a lower court in the northern town of Douai to grant the annulment on grounds of misrepresentation met protests from rights groups and prosecutors sought an appeal to overturn the ruling arguing that virginity as a prerequisite to marriage discriminated against women. European lawmakers also denounced the ruling as an "encroachment of religion in the public sphere," according to Agence France-Presse.

The man's lawyer said the reinstatement of the marriage threatens the couple's liberties and intrudes in the intimate parts of family life. The decision leaves the couple with the option to separate via divorce.